Ancient Web: Antibubble.org Made Inside-Out Bubbles a Science Project
C. T. Nadovich's Antibubble.org documents how liquid droplets become wrapped in thin air films, with experiments, photographs, references, and reader contributions.
Part of the Ancient Web Collection.
A normal bubble has liquid around air. C. T. Nadovich's website is devoted to the more peculiar arrangement: liquid wrapped in a vanishingly thin film of air, surrounded by more liquid.
The page's copyright period begins in 1998, and its small navigation menu leads through an introduction, instructions, photographs, trick effects, science, other experiments, and references. It explains why an antibubble is not merely an air pocket underwater. With liquid inside and outside the thin air shell, the object tends to move much more slowly through the surrounding fluid than an ordinary air bubble.
The making-an-antibubble page describes a transparent bowl, soapy water, and a squeeze bottle, along with the patience required to reproduce the effect. Nadovich notes that variations in water temperature, soap concentration, and even local conditions can change the result. It is exactly the kind of approachable, slightly finicky experiment a personal science page could inspire.
A hobby page becomes a notebook of discoveries
The site's breakthroughs section links to work by other experimenters and researchers. One contributor, Terry, experimented with differences in electric potential between inner and outer liquids. The page also discusses a 2002 Physical Review E paper by Alberto Tufaile and J. C. Sartorelli on bubble formation and air shells, and work by S. Dorbolo and colleagues using high-speed imaging.
That mixture of kitchen-table experiment and academic literature is the site's signature. Nadovich asks visitors to send pictures and descriptions of their results so he can post them with credit. The homepage is a doorway, but the interesting thing is the network of experiments radiating outward.
The author sometimes uses enthusiastic language for results whose significance requires specialist evaluation. The site should be read as a record of its author's curiosity and citations, rather than as an independently reviewed textbook.
There is no online store or slick interactive simulator to distract from the subject. The little diagram and menu of pages are enough to start a fascinating digression into surface tension and fluid films.
Read the antibubble introduction and the experiment and research notes.
Part of the Ancient Web Collection.
- Categories: Ancient Web
- Tags: #ancientweb, #personalweb, #experiments, #fluidphysics, #scienceprojects